Build Your Own Trashy Telsa Coil

Telsa coils are just plain cool. Of course they’re not usually the sort of thing that you just put together in your garage one day. Or are they? One man decided to go raiding a few dumpsters and looking through his garage for the necessary parts. He managed to find them, and make a pretty decent little Telsa coil. Here’s a rundown of what he used:

Primary power source: Small neon sign transformer

Discharge capacitor: High-voltage television capacitors

Spark gap: Pair of 1/4-in. bolts and nuts

Primary coil: Lamp shade and electric cord from a humidifier

Secondary coil: Cardboard tube and microwave fan wire

Secondary grounding: Metal spike pounded into the ground

Torroid: Two stovetop grease catcher pans

Chokes: Two Bic pens and wire from a RC car tossed away

Naturally, as with any DIY project like this, you’re going to want to be really careful. I’d advise looking through the instructions that the guy posted so as to get everything right.

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